Post-Plyometric Exercise Hypotension and Heart Rate in Normotensive Individuals: Influence of Exercise Intensity

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of high, moderate and low intensity plyometric exercise on the post-exercise systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate responses. METHODS: Ten healthy normotensive men (age, 21.1±0.9 years; height, 175.8±6 cm; and body mass, 69.1±13.6 kg) volunteered to participate in this study and were evaluated for three non-consecutive days in depth jump exercise from 20-cm box (low intensity [LI]), 40-cm box (moderate intensity [MI]) and 60-cm box (high intensity [HI]) for 5 sets of 20 repetitions. After each exercise session, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and heart rate (HR) were measured every 10 min for a period of 90 min. RESULTS: No significant differences were observed among post-exercise SBP, DBP and HR when the protocols (LI, MI and HI) were compared. The LI and HI protocols showed greater reduction in SBP at 40(th)-70(th) min of post-exercise (~9%), whereas the LI and MI protocols indicated greater reduction in DBP at 10(th)-50(th) min of post exercise (~10%). In addition, the change in the DBP for HI was not significant and the increases in the HR were similar for all intensities. CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that a plyometric exercise (PE) can reduce SBP and DBP post-exercise and therefore we can say that PE has significant effects for reducing BP and HR or post-exercise hypotension.